History of Attrapulsion

Attrapulsion was initially discovered in 950 by University zoologist Learned Weaver Pac during his study of fluxweavers.

Initial Discovery

It has long been known that fluxweavers construct traps for their prey, consisting of a ring of a concrete-like substance regurgitated by the animal, which sets in a roughly circular pattern. Prey become fixated in a spot projected in front of the center of the circle, seemingly without physical interference, called the ‘weaver effect’. Historically, this was assumed to be due to some kind of hypnosis, due to the strange acute headaches that people experience when near a fluxweaver trap. However, Learned Pac discovered that the effect also works when the fluxweaver is absent, and on small inanimate objects. This lead to a closer study of the substance the trap is made of, revealing an effect intrinsic to the material itself.

For several years, experiments had to be done by collecting fluxweaver traps for raw materials, but it was eventually discovered that fluxweavers create the material by ingesting bridgestones, concentrating the mineral now known as apacite, and regurgitating a thick paste which sets firm. After this discovery, University alchemists began extracting apacite directly from harvested bridgestones, and have gone on to discover several other attrapulsive materials.

Despite mostly focusing his academic career on zoology, Learned Pac is widely credited as the “father of attrapulsion”, and was the foremost expert on the weaver effect during his lifetime.

Early rods and handles

As the study of the ‘weaver effect’ developed, techniques for producing attrapulsive materials improved. It turned out that the mixture produced by fluxweavers is a more effective attrapulsive material than pure refined apacite. This is known as weaver’s paste, and is a mixture of mainly apacite, aurum, and whitestone.

Coupling was discovered as a result of the study of the medical effects of proximity to fluxweaver traps. The headache usually experienced was also induced when the fluxweaver was not present, and so the study of weaver’s paste itself lead to the discovery of the coupling effect.

Early coupling objects were made from a synthetic analogue of weaver’s paste produced as an extrusion, and broken into chunks for use in experiments. Experimenters found that even the synthetic material was giving them headaches, until the first accidental hopping event occurred and researchers could begin to narrow in on what was happening.

It was at this point that the field of attrapulsion really developed as it is known today. After researchers began to be able to reliably reproduce hopping through mental effort, the theory of ‘material resonance’ was put forward as the best explanation of the phenomenon.

Invention of Stable Machines

As higher quality materials became available, researchers attempted to reproduce the weaver effect using synthetic paste. This lead to early research in creating stable effects, and the first stable machines.

It was theorised that the weaver effect works by creating a kind of ‘subtraction’ localised in space that naturally attracts solid matter. The orientation of the material used is critical to the working effect.

The Blyn Ring

The Blyn Ring is the simplest proper stable machine, and is created by stacking smaller lengths of extruded synthetic weaver paste together in a circle, instead of using one long extruded segment. Named after Learned Weaver Blyn, an early University researcher in the nascent field of attrapulsion.

This created a slightly stronger pinning effect, able to hold a person’s hand in place with noticeable resistance. This was understood as a ‘self reinforcing trap’, where the subtraction effects overlap and reinforce each other, rather than cancelling each other out. This phenomena is very sensitive to misalignment of the materials.

It was also around this time that simple kinesis effects via deliberate mental coupling started to become possible. Modified forms of the Blyn ring could be used to hold small projectiles, and triggered to collapse the stable effect on command via a coupling handle. It became clear that steady levitation of non-attrapulsive objects was theoretically possible, but would require very precise engineering to achieve.

Maturation as a Technology

Miniaturisation
Attempted assassination of Mint CU candidate Minter Representative Stria via a self-triggering machinette
Subsequent regulations and laws
Exodus of attrapulsion enthusiants to found Pulser’s clave in 982
Shuddering attacks between rival guilds of Pulser’s Clave
Stimulating lumin gas for street lamps